Not lucky in anything special, just incredibly blessed by God! How lucky we are!

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Snow, Snow...it's Going Away!

In addition to some really fun weekend activities, the weather has been absolutely gorgeous. Unfortunately, with 10+ inches of snow still on the ground we haven't really been able to take advantage of the warm temps like I had wanted to...but at least the snow is melting away quickly!

Hubby & I have had a wonderful weekend! Friday night we thought we only had time for a quick dinner before Beauty & the Beast, so we stopped at a local sandwich shop. Fortunately, that ended up being a bit quicker than we needed so we took advantage of the extra time and stopped in at The Cup for a little bit of dessert...or I guess a LOT of dessert!

I took advantage of their seasonal selection the Ruby...strawberry & red velvet swirled cake topped with raspberry cream cheese icing and a sugary heart! OH my goodness this was so delicious! Nick opted for his standard, double chocolate...chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream icing and sprinkles. Doesn't get much better than that!

After our sugar rush, we headed to the show and I was definitely entertained. Thanks to my parents' being season ticket holders, we had great seats on the orchestra level right in the middle. Beauty & the Beast is one of those productions that I know so well that I want to sing along...of course I'm sure everyone around me was glad I kept those notes to myself. It was a great show & even more fun to watch all the little girls be all excited for the theater!

Saturday was a morning at home for me, which has turned into the weekly time for laundry, grocery shopping, etc. I was more than surprised when Hubby walked in the door with these!

Yes, I fully realize that red roses are cliche' on Valentine's Day...but I still absolutely LOVE getting them!

We really wanted to try a new steakhous in Branson, but that just wasn't feasible with tax season & Valentine's Day falling on a weeknight. So...we chose to have our fancy Valentine's Day dinner out on Saturday evening & we were able to have a perfect, relaxing dinner. Level 2 Steakhouse is located at the Hilton on Branson Landing and we were definitely impressed. Every aspect of the meal was great, and we'll definitely be back. The restaurant even features a "knife presentation" where you can choose your own steak knife...and after your 5th visit they engrave the knife with your name for you to use on each return visit. It may take awhile but I'm sure Hubby is counting on having an engraved knife at some point in the future!

Love dining out at fancy places with my husband! We both definitely appreciate a good meal!

The meal was wonderful, but dessert certainly deserves it's own photo. Recently our local magazine, 417 Magazine, highlighted the best chocolate desserts in the area. Nick & I both LOVE chocolate cake and the cover story was about the cake at Level 2. Of course we couldn't have dinner without ordering the cake! However, nothing prepared me for the dessert that was going to be placed between us!

7 layers of moist, chocolate cake with alternating layers of chocolate ganache, raspberry, and white chocolate cream. Let me also say that we brought more than half of this dessert home and there were several couples walking out with to-go bags that I can only imagine also contained most of this dessert! It was incredible, but definitely the biggest piece of cake I've ever seen!

Today after church we've enjoyed a lazy Sunday afternoon. I love being able to relax on Sunday as we get ready for a new week. Top off the night with small group and it's been a pretty perfect weekend!